Nwankwo Kanu's Love for Kelechi Iheanacho – What Experts Think It is

If the photograph above wasn't stage managed, then Sprite would have gained a free advert worth millions of Dollars.

I'll tell you why....

Nwankwo Kanu being the all-time greatest and Nigeria's football ambassador now displaying a Big Brotherly care for the upcoming and currently most raved about young Nigerian player in Manchester city, Kelechi Iheanacho... And with a bottle of Sprite displayed on the table after what may have been a delicious meal; sends positive signal to the generation of kids in Nigeria, if not the whole of Africa; of whom these footballers are role model to.

"Oh, if you want to be like these superstars, Sprite is the drink to consume during meals."

But for us in the sport marketing professional we know that the photo in question would have been so much of a coincidence if it just happened that way.

It was a subject of our discussion in GreenHunters Sports International round-table last weekend and the participants conclusion was this...

Kanu's visit to Manchester city to see Iheanacho was a great display of brotherly love and solidarity for his fellow country man, but may have been orchestrated by Nigerian Bottling Company, producers of Sprite.

The round table discussions was on...

"How Sport Marketers are deploying smart advertising strategies using social media platforms."

First, let's take a look at the photograph to see the positioning of the plastic can. It was a master class act of a professional photographer. You can see the way he captured the brand name on the label "Sprite."

Second, how Kanu posted the photo on twitter, which is also connected to his Facebook account; was yet another professional tweet @NwankwoKanu

"A visit to Manchester but not a good result for Iheanacho, happy to see him enjoying his football and developing fast."

This master photo piece immediately went viral online. First, to Kanu's 2millon followers on Twitter and another 1.6 million "Like" 0n Facebook.

The photo was retweeted 10,853, and re-shared on facebook 6,370 and instagram 786.

Over 31 websites and 52 blogs posted stories around Kanu visit to see Iheanacho and it was topic of inspiring discussion with 100 comments from participants on Nairaland forum.